is seated on a ring-like disk which secretes
honey. Each carpel becomes divided by a median constriction in four
portions, each containing one ovule; the style springs from the centre
of the group of four divisions.

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--(1) Inflorescence of Forget-me-not; (2) ripe
fruits.]

The flowers show well-marked adaptation to insect-visits. Their colour
and tendency to arrangement on one surface, with the presence of honey,
serve to attract insects. The scales around the throat of the corolla
protect the pollen and honey from wet or undesirable visitors, and by
their difference in colour from the corolla-lobes, as in the yellow eye
of forget-me-not, may serve to indicate the position of the honey. In
most genera the fruit consists of one-seeded nutlets, generally four,
but one or more may be undeveloped. The shape of the nutlet and the
character of its coat are very varied. Thus in _Lithospermum_ the
nutlets are hard like a stone, in _Myosotis_ usually polished, in
_Cynoglossum_ covered with bristles, &c.

The order is widely spread in temperate and tropical regions, and
contains 85 genera with about 1200 species. Its chief centre is the
Mediterranean region, whence it extends over central Europe and Asia,
becoming less frequent northwards. A smaller centre occurs on the
Pacific side of North America. The order is less developed in the south
temperate zone.

[Illustration: FIG. 3.--(1) Flower of Borage; (2) same in vertical
section enlarged; (3) horizontal plan of flower; (4) flower of Comfrey
after removal of corolla, showing unripe fruit.]

The order is of little economic value. Several genera, such as borage
and _Pulmonaria_, were formerly used in medicine, and the roots yield
purple or brown dyes, as in _Alkanna tinctoria_ (alkanet). Heliotrope or
cherry-pie (_Heliotropium peruvianum_) is a well-known garden plant.

BORAS, a town of Sweden, in the district (_lan_) of Elfsborg, 45 m. E.
of Gothenburg by rail, on the river Viske. Pop. (1880) 4723; (1900)
15,837. It ranks among the first twelve towns in Sweden both in
population and in the value of its manufacturing industries. These are
principally textile, as there are numerous cotton spinning and weaving
mills, together with a technical weaving school. The town was founded in
1632 by King Gustavus Adolphus.

BORAX (sodium pyroborate or sodium biborate), Na2B4O7, a substance which
appears in commerce under two forms, namely "common" or